Denny motion filed in overdose death case

The attorney representing La Crosse County woman set to stand trial next month on a charge of first-degree reckless homicide (drug delivery) has asked Oneida County circuit judge Mary Sowinski to allow the defense to present evidence that a “known third-party” may have sold the drugs that caused the death of a Rhinelander man in January 2023.

Attorney Stephen W. Sawyer filed the so-called Denny motion on Dec. 16, according to online court records. 

Other motions related to the admissibility of evidence have also been filed in the case, as 43-year-old Andrea Jean Walker of Bangor prepares for a three-day jury trial set to begin on Feb. 10.

According to a criminal complaint filed in July 2023, Walker is accused of being “the middleman” in a drug transaction involving a 45-year-old Rhinelander man who was found dead on Jan. 30, 2023, days after an alleged drug transaction took place in western Wisconsin.

The state crime lab later determined his cause of death was mixed drug toxicity/overdose (fentanyl and methamphetamine).

The criminal complaint details the police investigation.

 “A large pile of white crystalline substance” was located on a dresser and a bed in the room where (the man) was found, and other drug paraphernalia was located elsewhere in the residence, the complaint states.

A family member who had been living with the deceased told police the man had been “acting weird” and “bumping into things” the night before his death. The family member also told police the man had recently traveled to western Wisconsin and was acting “very hyper” since he returned. 

The complaint also details investigators’ application for and use of search warrants to obtain Facebook and phone records tying Walker to the deceased, including references to a meeting between the two in La Crosse County days before the man was found dead.

According to the newly filed motion, the defense is seeking permission to argue that another person, a western Wisconsin resident with a history of convictions related to the delivery and distribution of controlled substances, might have been the source of the drugs that killed the Rhinelander man

In his motion, attorney Stephen W. Sawyer states that the western Wisconsin man’s DNA was found on a “ripped corner baggie” found in the Rhinelander man’s bathroom following his death.

In addition, there is evidence that the Rhinelander man traveled to a location approximately 19 miles from the western Wisconsin man’s address during the late January trip that preceded his death.

The motion also includes a recitation of the western Wisconsin man’s prior convictions related to the distribution/delivery of controlled substances.

As the motion explains, defendants in Wisconsin must satisfy a three-part test in order to introduce evidence of a third-party perpetrator.

The prongs are motive, opportunity and connection to the crime.

In the motion, Sawyer argues that the western Wisconsin man’s motive was “the desire for drugs or money from the sale of drugs as can be seen by his history of drug-related offenses.”

The other two prongs are satisfied by evidence that the Rhinelander man stopped at a location less than 20 miles from the western Wisconsin man’s address during the same late January trip where he met with Walker and the same man’s DNA was later found on a baggie in the Rhinelander man’s home, the motion states.

A pretrial conference in the case is scheduled for Jan. 9. 

If convicted of the Class C felony, Walker faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison.

Heather Schaefer may be reached at [email protected].